680
Chapter 680
'How can Mephistopheles be here?'
Zeke, who had been dwelling within Claudia's body, couldn't help but be surprised seeing Mephistopheles manifested in Anastasia's body.
Mephistopheles, the Great Demon Lord, had to pay a huge price to descend to the physical realm due to karma restrictions.
Even facing Zeke was only possible because he had stolen massive amounts of karma from other demon lords to pay the price.
However, during the Liberation War a thousand years ago, it would have been impossible to prepare that much karma as payment.
Sharing the same thoughts as Zeke, Claudia glared at Mephistopheles with disbelief and said:
"I don't know how a demon lord from hell manifested
here... but get lost. I don't want to exchange words with filthy demons."
Mephistopheles, possessing Anastasia's body, held his stomach and burst into laughter.
HAHAHA!
"Indeed, the Shadow Dragon is different. Not even wanting to talk with demons."
Claudia's expression hardened at Mephistopheles's words.
The fact that she was Bahamut, the Shadow Dragon, was the most guarded secret.
If her identity was revealed, beings holding grudges from various past incidents would obviously come rushing for revenge.
Mephistopheles laughed loudly again seeing Claudia's expression.
"You seem shocked that I know you're the Ruler of Twilight m."
He continued speaking with an amused smile.
"No matter how great a shadow dragon you are, it's useless when bound to a human body by contract. Isn't that right?"
Those words struck Claudia's heart like a dagger, especially after being toyed with by demons she could have crushed instantly in her original form.
Mephistopheles, floating in the air, continued speaking while looking at her.
"Other demons will likely keep attacking to get your child. And as long as you're human, you won't be able to stop them."
Claudia clenched her teeth at the mention of demons targeting her child.
At that moment, another strong labor pain hit.
"KEUUUU!"
Chronos blocked in front of the suffering Claudia and said to Mephistopheles.
"Step back, Demon Lord. No matter how many demons come, they won't be able to take this child."
Mephistopheles's purple eyes glowed as he responded.
"Chronos, your shamelessness remains. How unsightly that you still cling to the physical realm even after your contractor, the Fairy King, has departed."
Unlike his gentle attitude toward Claudia, Mephistopheles's demeanor toward Chronos was quite fierce.
Then Claudia, enduring the labor pains resonating in her womb and breathing heavily, asked Mephistopheles:
"...Why are demons targeting this child?"
Mephistopheles responded with a surprised expression:
"Ha, I see this sneaky dragon didn't tell you. Well, this cunning dragon who keeps all secrets to herself wouldn't have told you that fact."
After thoroughly criticizing Chronos, Mephistopheles smiled at Claudia and continued.
"The bloodline this child inherits is quite important. To demons, that is."
Still not understanding, Claudia barely gathered her thoughts through the pain and asked again:
"Bloodline... what does that mean…?"
"What else? It means your child will be born with the bloodline to become a vessel for the Demon King."
Claudia was so shocked by his words that she momentarily forgot the pain.
She looked at Chronos and said.
"You knew this... So when you said the Demon King's revival was related to this child...?"
A child born between Draker, the Terakan who awakened immortal power, and Bahamut, the Shadow Dragon.
There couldn't be a more suitable vessel for the Demon King.
Chronos looked at Claudia with a pale face and said.
"...It's just one possibility. The future is never set..."
"Enough!"
Claudia glared at Chronos and shouted in a harsh tone.
"When you knew demons were targeting my child! Why didn't you tell me about this?, why?!"
Chronos remained silent at Claudia's words.
She was always like this.
Using her unique ability to monopolize future possibilities, she would try to decide everything herself without sharing related information.
Claudia's anger boiled over realizing her child was included in such decisions by Chronos.
"This time, absolutely not..."
At that moment, a intense contraction hit, and Claudia collapsed feeling pain too severe to continue speaking.
The startled Chronos tried to approach and support Claudia, but she rejected his touch.
Seeing this, Mephistopheles smiled and said to Claudia:
"Now it's time for my proposal."
He extended his hand to Claudia and continued seriously:
"Make a contract with me. I'll protect your child from the demons."
Claudia glared at Mephistopheles while breaking into a cold sweat.
"Why would a demon lord protect my child? Aren't you also after the child using this as an excuse?!"
Mephistopheles shook his head at her words.
"I'm different from other lords who want to resurrect the Demon King. Personally, I'd prefer if the Demon King didn't resurrect."
As soon as those words ended, Chronos beside her said to Claudia.
"Claudia. Don't listen to him. This one has the most wicked tongue among all demons..."
DDAK!
When Mephistopheles snapped his fingers, all sound coming from Chronos's mouth disappeared as if swallowed somewhere.
Mephistopheles smiled again and said to Claudia:
"No need to listen to the interference. She’ll be quiet for a moment. Now, make your decision. The child seems to be coming soon."
Claudia, breathing roughly through contractions, looked at Mephistopheles and asked:
"A demon wouldn't make an offer for nothing. What's the price?"
"What I want is..."
He looked down at Claudia and slowly opened his mouth.
"Your physical body."
Claudia's eyes widened at Mephistopheles's words.
Mephistopheles quickly shook his head and said:
"Ah, don't misunderstand. I'm not saying I'll take your body right now. If your soul ever leaves your body, I want you to hand over that shell to me. A shadow dragon's corpse has great value to me as well."
Claudia frowned at Mephistopheles's words in contemplation.
Beside her, Chronos shook her head and mouthed words without sound, saying it shouldn't be done.
She glared at Mephistopheles again and said:
"If I agree to hand over my body after I die, you promise to protect my child from demons?"
"I am the demon of contracts. I never break contracts."
At those words, Claudia contemplated before speaking:
"Fine. However, I'll hand over my body excluding my heart and fangs."
Mephistopheles, possessing Anastasia's body, slightly furrowed his brow.
After thinking deeply, he narrowed his eyes and looked down at Claudia.
"Hmm... a dragon's corpse without the heart and fangs. Though it's quite disadvantageous for me. I'll specially allow it this time."
DDAK! A contract appeared in the air when he snapped his fingers.
Mephistopheles handed the contract to Claudia.
"Please verify the contents and sign, Ruler of Twilight. Ah, don't think about signing with your human name. Such tricks won't work."
Claudia nodded and quickly scanned the contract's contents.
KIIIING!
Dragons who spoke dragon language have a special sense for language.
After confirming there were no trap clauses in Mephistopheles's contract, she wrote her true name, Bahamut, in the signature field.
TSUTSUTSUTSU!
When the name was engraved on the contract, Mephistopheles smiled slightly and snapped his fingers again.
CHIIIIK!
Then Mephistopheles's mark was engraved on the inside of Claudia's wrist.
At this moment, she and the demon lord of hell were bound by contract.
Mephistopheles bowed his head to her again with a polite greeting.
"I shall take my leave now. May you have a good night."
As suddenly as he appeared, he vanished without a trace.
As Claudia's body went limp when the tension released, the door burst open.
"Claudia!"
Terakan rushed into the room with healers and mages.
Not knowing Mephistopheles had visited, he said to the healers.
"We need to move quickly. The child is coming soon!"
The healers carried the pain stricken Claudia to the treatment room.
Terakan, about to move with the healers, discovered Chronos collapsed on the floor and approached him.
"Chronos, you need to recover first too. Let me support you to the treatment room..."
At that moment, Chronos raised her head and looked at Draker.
Clock-shaped patterns were engraved in both of her eyes.
Terakan flinched in surprise seeing Chronos's eyes for the first time.
"Chronos? Are you alright?"
In that instant, Chronos's body floated into the air.
She then spoke to Terakan.
[Terakan, you will soon face a difficult decision. It will be a tragedy born of noble love, and will be the end of your promised rest.]
It was a sudden prophecy from Chronos.
Terakan showed a bewildered face at Chronos's unexpected tragic prophecy.
Soon Chronos, floating in the air, became enveloped in silver light and vanished.
"When she's not well... she shouldn't push herself."
He looked at where Chronos had been before running toward the treatment room where Claudia was taken.
And somehow Zeke, who had been ejected from Bahamut, was watching Terakan in a semi-transparent state.
'Bahamut made a contract with Mephistopheles, offering her body in exchange for protecting King Geo Lubern?'
Zeke recalled the past scene where Terakan eliminated Bahamut possessed by the Demon King with his sword.
Bahamut's eliminated body scattered and disappeared as black ashes, leaving only the heart and fangs behind.
Terakan stored the heart and fangs in the Dragon Slayer's tomb, which Zeke discovered a thousand years later.
'The disappearance of Bahamut's body wasn't due to elimination by Terakan’s sword, but transfer to Mephistopheles by contract.'
He couldn't know what Mephistopheles did with Bahamut's body he collected.
It was impossible to even summon and ask him since his soul was sealed in Zeke's abyss.
'Mephistopheles. You've been scheming and manipulating situations to your will from behind the scenes for a thousand years.'
Zeke felt fortunate to have at least sealed him in the abyss, even if he couldn't eliminate him.
But then.
WAAAH!
A faint baby's cry was heard from afar.
'King Geo Lubern. He is born.'
Zeke recalled meeting him, even if only as a spirit.
Until his final moment, he never knew Terakan was his birth father.
Chronos's prophecy had come true.
'But why did Bahamut bring me here? Did she want to show me the contract with Mephistopheles?'
Just as Zeke thought he'd seen everything and pondered why Bahamut's heart sleeping within him and the black sword Bahamut brought him here.
Something else reached Zeke's ears.
WAAAH!
A long echoing baby's cry.
'Huh?'
The baby's cry just now overlapped with the cry heard earlier.
Hearing the babies' cries resonating simultaneously, Zeke turned and moved toward the treatment room.
JJEOJEOJEOK!
But at that moment, the memory space began to crack.
'No.'
The anxious Zeke moved quickly, but the memory space completely shattered just as he reached the treatment room where Claudia and Terakan were.